Noir et Blanc

First Aid Comedy Brigade

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 09:51:18 -0400

While a student at Greenwich High School, Zach Lee set several fundraising records that are unlikely to be broken anytime soon.
These include a “Dollar-a-Day” campaign for Hurricane Katrina victims that netted more than $30,000, and an $8,000 fund-raiser for orphaned children in Bobai, China. Zach also helped the GHS Improv Troop take high school comedy to a new level of professionalism–as well as new venues including children’s hospitals and nursing homes.
Eliza followed in Zach’s footsteps in Student Government as Chair of Community Services (fund raising) and, ultimately, student body President. She kept his number on speed dial and listened carefully to his advice.
Shortly after Eliza was accepted at the NYU/Tisch Film School in December, Zach recruited her to become vice-president of a new campus organization called the NYU First Aid Comedy Brigade that he was forming in cooperation with NYU’s Dangerbox improv group. Their goal is to bring college improvisational humor to hospitalized children. In March, Dangerbox performed it’s first children’s hospital show–and the First Aid Comedy Brigade won a $10,000 Reynolds/Youth Venture Award aimed at helping expand the the program to a total of seven university campuses.
One of Eliza’s first tasks will be to produce a film for the organization’s web site as part of the First Aid Comedy Brigade “branding” program. Below is coverage of the First Aid Comedy Brigade from the Washington Square News, NYU On Campus, and Youth Venture.

Healing Kids with Humor
JESSICA ABRAMSON, Washington Square News
Published: Sunday, March 22, 2009
As the old adage goes, laughter is the best medicine — and that is exactly how patients at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases Center for Children were treated last Tuesday.  Steinhardt sophomore Zachary Lee and junior Ariel Dubov and Greenwich High School senior Eliza McNitt (who will be a Tisch freshman this fall) teamed up with Dangerbox, NYU’s improvisational comedy troupe, to perform improv comedy shows for children at local hospitals.   The group, called the First Aid Comedy Brigade, formed after Lee entered the NYU Reynolds/Youth Venture Be A Changemaker Challenge competition, in which teams compete for $10,000 grants to begin nonprofit social projects.  Lee was also influenced by organizing a performance at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y. with a high school improv group.   “Three years later, the same idea came back to me, except now I have all these resources to do the same thing but on a much larger scale,” he said.  Last Tuesday, Lee, Dubov, McNitt and Dangerbox members used those resources when they performed at the NYU hospital.  “I spent the majority of the show watching the kids in the waiting room with their parents, and I saw all their worries and stresses disappear for that brief 45 minutes,” Dubov said. “For that short amount of time these kids just got to laugh. It was fantastic.”  A panel of judges will announce the winning team of the competition today. If his team wins, Lee hopes that the $10,000 grant will help the team create a website, form a logo, print T-shirts, and purchase a backdrop to be used for shows.  The First Aid Comedy Brigade already has more shows booked, including an April 21 performance in the oncology ward of The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and a show at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian.  “The great part about this particular effort is its ability to exist in hundreds of hospitals, allowing thousands upon thousands of children to have this experience,” McNitt said. “I believe it helps them a lot more than we think.”   Jessica Abramson is a staff writer. E-mail her at university@nyunews.com.

Youth Venture Awards
NYU Students $10,000 For Comedy Brigade

I don’t think I’m alone in automatically trashing nearly every NYU email I receive. Fortunately for him, NYU student Zach Lee happened to read at least one—the NYU Reynolds Social Entrepreneurship Program advertisement for the “Be-a-Changemaker” Challenge, which offered a team up to $10 k for a venture idea.
Stemming from a high school experience organizing a high school comedy improvisation troupe to visit a local children’s hospital in White Plains, NY, Lee believed he could “take this concept and develop it into a large-scale model that could efficiently bring laughter into thousands of children’s lives around the country.” Sounds all right by me.
Now, along with Steinhardt junior Ariel Dubov and future Tisch freshmen Eliza McNitt, Lee has found himself the proud winner of a $10,000 Reynolds/Youth Venture grant. “The win itself was quite surprising, as the other four finalists all had fantastic, well thought out ideas,” said the diplomatic Lee. “It was not actually until the day before the presentation did I realize how I could present this venture in the most effective manner.”

The First Aid Comedy Brigade is Lee’s brainchild and along with NYU improvisation group Dangerbox, make up a student-run movement providing free comedy shows to children’s hospitals around the nation. Having already performed at the NYU Hospital for Children with Joint Disease, the group will conjure laughs at the Children’s Hospital of Montefiore and NY Presbyterian Children’s Hospital in April.
But with big money comes big plans. “This summer, we will officially begin the expansion process, coordinating with six comedy improvisation groups at six other universities, instilling within them the code by which every Brigade must abide by, and utilizing our money and resources to make them perfect,” Lee explained. “By the end of next school year, our organization hopes to have seven fully functioning Brigades, operating successfully as a unified brand on all levels.”
In a candid and business savvy move, Lee cites similarities between the business models of the First Aid Comedy Brigade and the McDonalds franchise. “Just as McDonalds poured all of its initial resources into the first eight restaurants, perfecting the formula and establishing a trusted brand, so we plan to do with these first seven brigades next year.”

“Like McDonalds, which attracted individuals to the ensured success of starting up one of their restaurants as long as they adopted the name and rules of the original eight, we hope that by the end of next year, we have created a perfect package that other comedy groups around the country, operated by students who innately have a hunger for laughter, will feel compelled to adopt.” And with words like that, it’s not hard to see how Lee produced a winning idea.
Consider my cynicism quelled. So, uh, dream big, kids. And read those NYU emails.

Zach Lee with little sister Zalina in 2008

–by Joe Coscarelli, NYU “On Campus”

From: ON CAMPUS - by Joe Coscarelli on Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The First Aid Comedy Brigade aims to put laughter into the hearts of thousands of sick children around the nation.
The First Aid Comedy Brigade (FACB) is the first student-run movement to provide free comedy shows to children in hospitals around the nation. By marrying existing university comedy improvisation troupes with local children’s hospitals, the FACB plans to create hundreds of local chapters (Brigades), bringing laughter into the lives of thousands of children while cultivating a culture of helping others among college students around the country.
 FACB was founded in February 2009 at New York University when Zach Lee formed a partnership with Dangerbox, the premier comedy improvisation group on campus. Zach then began to communicate with various children’s hospitals in New York City, coordinating shows in which Dangerbox would perform for the in-patient ward of the hospital. The first show, on March 12, 2009, was at the NYU Hospital for Children with Joint Disease, to be followed by shows at the Children’s Hospital of Montefiore and the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital at NY Presbyterian.
 Working with Dangerbox, officially deemed the first “Brigade”, has allowed Zach and his team, consisting of Ariel Dubov and Eliza McNitt (both NYU students) to begin devising a precise comedic formula to ensure success each time a university comedy group performs for children in a hospital setting. Factors that play into this formula include an established identity (logo, T-shirts, backdrops), a particular set of comedy games devised for such a specialized environment, and an understanding of the most effective ways to interact with and involve the children.
 Recipient of the NYU Reynolds Program for Social Entrepreneurship / Youth Venture grant, the First Aid Comedy Brigade now has the financial ability to build its organization and put into place a long-term expansion plan. During the summer of 2009, Zach will officially kick off this process, coordinating with six other comedy improvisation groups at various universities and work with them to create the code by which every Brigade will abide. FACB’s plan is first to develop seven fully functioning Brigades (including the first Brigade at NYU), and have them operating successfully as independent chapters under the umbrella of the FACB. Zach estimates that this will take about a year of hands-on work, during which time the FACB team will book each Brigade at least three shows per semester, closely monitoring every performance as well as providing a professional stage backdrop and T-shirts for each of the seven groups. In this way, the FACB intends to have every aspect of its shows, its branding/identity, its relationship with the hospitals, and its operating procedures fully documented by May 2010 in order to kick off a national expansion campaign.
The FACB plans to recruit colleges around the nation by using the network of friends and colleagues that already exists between comedy groups at hundreds of universities. In addition to this established network, Zach and his team will travel to comedy improv festivals and spread the word to other improv groups about joining the movement and starting their own Brigade.
 The FACB website (www.firstaidcomedybrigade.org) will be an important element in the recruitment and training process for new chapter Brigades. The site will also function as a specialized social network, providing each Brigade with a personalized homepage, allowing group members to swap stories, pictures, footage and ideas with brigades at other schools. Each hospital will also have a personalized page, which the children themselves can access, encouraging Brigade members to develop friendships with the children, creating a long-lasting and intimate impact on everyone involved. The site will also be a resource for hospitals and hospital administrators who want to find out more about the FACB and book a show for the children.

Future's So Bright 2009

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:48:28 -0400

2009

On Thursday, Eliza won the top two Life Science prizes–the First Place Pfizer Trophy and the Connecticut Academy of Sciences Award for Research Excellence–at the 2009 Connecticut Science Fair (CFS).

Eliza shared the spotlight with fellow Greenwich High School (GHS) science student Michael Tom, who won the top two Physical Sciences awards. As this year’s CFS overall winners, Eliza and Michael will represent Connecticut at the 2009 INTEL Science and Engineering Fair in Reno, NV.

In addition to his success at CSF, Michael was recently accepted at Harvard–and won the Gold Medal in Fencing during the Junior Olympics in Albuquerque, NM.

Joining Eliza and Michael at the INTEL Fair will be yet another of Andrew Bramante’s GHS Honor Science Research students, William Newberry, a GHS junior who finished Second overall in Physical Science.

The INTEL Fair, or ISEF as it is known in science and engineering circles, is the Holy Grail for serious high school science students. For Eliza, it will be her second trip to ISEF. Last year she won a Grand Award in Environmental Management at ISEF in Atlanta, GA, after qualifying by placing second overall in Life Sciences at the CSF.

2009 Connecticut Science Fair at Quinnipiac University during final project judging (photo: Frank LaBanca).

Eliza’s 2008 project tested samples of honey from the Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford, CT, for traces of pesticides using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) technology. This year, Eliza used HPLC to examine pollen, beeswax, beebread and dead bees gathered from the Arboretum hive for traces of Imidacloprid, a powerful new systemic pesticide. Imidacloprid has been implicated in the onset of Colony Collapse Disorder in U.S. apiaries beginning in November 2006 at about the time the new pesticide was introduced to the American market. Her work confirmed the presence of high levels of Imidacloprid both in the hive and on the extremities of the Arboretum honey bees.

Eliza and her friend Charlie Greene also produced an eight-minute documentary on the potential consequences–i.e. food shortages and political instability–of CDD. The film won First Place in this year’s C-SPAN “Studentcam” Documentary Contest. (Learn more here.)

For Andy Bramante, it was his third consecutive year mentoring students who reached ISEF. But this year’s showing–three out of the top four Connecticut Science Fair winners–almost certainly sets a new record of excellence for a Connecticut secondary-school science teacher.

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UPDATE, MARCH 17:
GHS student Eliana Carmona was awarded the top prize at the “greater Danbury” regional Science Horizons Fair. Since Connecticut’s ISEF contingent consists of the four overall CSF winners, plus the overall Science Horizon winner, Andrew Bramante’s students will fill an unprecedented four out the state’s alloted five slots at ISEF. An amazing feat!
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What are the odds of winning the CSF? Each year about 10,000 students compete in local competitions, of which 500 qualify for CSF. Based on their abstracts and posters, these are narrowed down to 150 CSF Finalists from which four overall winners (1st and 2nd place in Life Science and Physical Science) are selected.

Eliza and Michael Tom, overall winners of the 2009 Connecticut Science Fair
for Life Science (Eliza) and Physical Science (Michael)

Top Winners Announced at 61st Annual Connecticut Science Fair

HAMDEN, Conn., March 12, 2009 – Nearly 150 finalists competed today for top honors
at the 61st Annual Connecticut Science Fair for middle and senior high school students
held at Quinnipiac University.

The top two finalists from each category selected today in the grade 9-12 Pfizer Life
Sciences and Dominion Physical Sciences categories (indicated by ***) won all-expense-
paid trips to represent Connecticut at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
being held in Reno, Nevada, in May. They were:

Grade 9 to 12 Pfizer Life Sciences

*** First Place: Eliza McNitt, a senior at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, is the top winner of
the fair’s Life Sciences category. As part of her project, called Shedding Light on Imidacloprid’s Role in
Colony Collapse Disorder, she sought analytical evidence that Imidacloprid, a pesticide that replaced
Diazanon in 2006, plays a role in Colony Collapse Disorder, by tracing the migration of it in the pollination
path of the honeybee. This research could provide answers to the poorly understood phenomenon called
Colony Collapse Disorder that has caused beehives around the world to lose their workers at an alarming
rate. This research holds promise given that honeybee pollination is responsible for one in every three bites
of food we eat and it is estimated to account for more than $14 billion in U.S. agriculture business.

*** Second Place: Amoolya Narayanan, a sophomore at Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury,
placed second in the fair’s Life Sciences category. In a project, called Anti-biofilm Effect of Trans-
Cinnamaldehyde on Uropathogenic Eschrichia coli, Narayanan investigated the efficacy of trans-
cinnamaldehyde, an ingredient in cinnamon oil, for preventing chronic urinary tract infections.

Grade 9 to 12 Dominion Physical Sciences

*** First Place: Michael D. Tom, a senior at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, is the top winner
of the fair’s Physical Sciences category. In his project, called The Creation of an Elastic Integrated Circuit
for Applications in Medicine, Tom designed a tensiometer to measure tissue tension, based on a novel
multi-walled carbon nanotube elastomer. This technology could be used to measure bladder wall tension in
neurogenic bladder patients, whose ability to sense bladder fullness is impaired by disease.

*** Second Place: William C. Newberry, a junior at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, won
second place in the fair’s Physical Sciences category. For his project, called Laser-Induced Microfluidic
Motion of a Liquid-Liquid Interface, he investigated the ability of a colloid particle to move from a
miscible liquid through a soft interface into a liquid of limited/no miscibility at subcritical temperatures.
The ability to mechanically move picoliter quantities of a fluid may allow scientists to more easily create an
artificial pseudocell as well as introduce nanodoses of medicine or genetic information into a cell.

Andy Bramante and his three INTEL-bound Honors Science Research students: Michael Tom, William Newberry and Eliza. In Sept., Michael will be attending Harvard, Eliza will be at NYU’s Tisch School of Film and Television Production and William will be returning to GHS for his senior year.

With Sandy Muller, human dynamo and Connecticut Science Fair president.

Receiving the Connecticut Academy of Science/Gerber Scientific 2009 Award for Research Excellence in Life Science. The Academy-sponsored youth science exhibit at the Peabody Museum and annual dinner at the New Haven Lawn Club was one of the highlights of last year’s science competitions.

GHS students dominate science fair
By Debra Friedman
STAFF WRITER
Posted: 03/18/2009 03:07:41 AM EDT

From designing a meter able to measure tissue tension to tracing the migration of pesticide through the path of a honeybee, several award-winning science projects have earned four Greenwich High School students a trip to a prestigious international science competition this May.

The school took home 18 awards at the 2009 Connecticut Science Fair, including first place in the life and physical science categories. While the victory was sweet for all involved, it was particularly meaningful for three seniors and one junior who will now be participating in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno, Nev.
The projects were submitted by students enrolled in an honors independent science research course.

"It was a Greenwich day," said science research teacher Andrew Bramante, who teaches the course and supervised the students at the science fair held at Quinnipiac University last week.

Fair contingent: Andy Bramante with CFS Finalists from his Honors Science Research course at GHS

"It's a really big year. I kind of knew we would do well, but I never knew to this extent."
Describing themselves as a "research family" who have grown close through the year-long class, the students discussed their projects, their passion for science and the exhilaration of winning.

"When they announced the winner, I couldn't even believe I won. It was overwhelming," said Eliza McNitt, 17, a senior whose project explored how a certain pesticide affects a disorder that destroys honeybees ability to pollinate. McNitt, who will be attending New York University to study acting [actually it’s not acting, but film and television production], won first place in the life sciences category, earning her a paid trip and $500 to compete in the Intel competition in May.

Below: Connecticut Audubon Special Award

Three of her peers received the same honor, including Michael Tom, William Newberry and Eliana Carmona. Tom and Newberry took home first place and second place in the physical sciences category respectively. Carmona won a first place award in a separate special category, earning her a trip. Carmona's project researches how insulin can be absorbed into the skin without a needle.

Several other students took home awards including Sarah Yee, who won third place in the life sciences category and David Finklestein and Stephen Rubino who won first place in the life sciences team category. Laurence Pevsner, 16, also took home several awards in applied technology and sustained resource categories.
Tom said he is planning to apply for a patent of his "tensiometer," which measures tissue tension and could be used to measure bladder wall tension in patients who are unable to sense bladder fullness due to impairment from a neurogenic disease.

"It felt really good to win. I worked hard on this project and I wanted to do well," said Tom, 16, who will be attending Harvard University next fall.

Newberry said he chose to work with lasers for his project in order to build on an idea a former student had. "My project was to use a laser to induce moisture of a particle through a liquid interface," said Newberry, a junior. "I was thrilled to have my research come together the way it did."

William Newberry junior displays the science project he entered in the Connecticut Science Fair in which a laser is used to move particles through a lipid-liquid interface. (Bob Luckey/Greenwich Time Staff photo)

Students said their independent study class was challenging but a lot of fun at the same time. "I loved it. It really gives you the options to do some new things," said Yee, who credited her teacher's dedication to their class success.

Bramante said his students are graded through presentations of their projects and the work they put in through the year. While it is not a requirement, he encourages students to enter science fairs to have their research noticed. "They really get into it and it's very fulfilling," said Bramante.

GHS students and Intel Science Fair Competitors, bottom row, left to right, Eliza McNitt, Laurence Pevsner, Sarah Yee, Eliana Carmona. Top row, left to right, Stephen Rubino, David Finkelstein, science teacher Andrew Bramante, Michael Tom and William Newberry. (Bob Luckey/Greenwich Time Staff photo)

Click here for “Eliza’s Adventures in Science” 2008, including the Intel International Science Fair

She Blinded Me with Science 2008

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:57:50 -0400

2008 CSF

Intrigued by her Grandfather’s warning about pesticides on an apple, in Sept. 2007 Eliza designed an experiment to test honey samples for traces of several common pesticides. If blossoms were sprayed with pesticides, she reckoned, perhaps those pesticides were also finding their way into honey. As it turned out, the project was cutting-edge environmental science-- little research had been performed on the migration of pesticides in honey production. But with no roadmap to follow, Eliza's initial work using Fourier transform spectrophotometry proved inconclusive.

Having reached a dead end, she started over using High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and a novel technique for preparing her honey samples. This time, the experiment succeeded–so well, in fact, that she won top awards at the 2008 Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, at the 2008 Connecticut Science Fair, and ultimately at the 2008 INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, GA.

Below are a few photos and press clippings from Eliza's unexpected and amazing 2007-2008 adventures in science...

Connecticut’s five top 2008 science fair winners with Wynn Muller of the Connecticut Science Fair

Abstract for Eliza’s 2008 “Pesticide” project: Tracing the Migration of Pesticides Through the Production of
Southwestern Connecticut Honey

Here is a download link to Eliza’s Complete 2008 “Pesticide” research.

2008 project judging: CSF finalists defend their hypotheses and methodology during questioning by as many as a dozen expert judges (photo: Frank LaBanca)

Dr. Sarah Berke presents the 2008 Connecticut “BioBus” Special Award for Research Excellence (photo: Frank LaBanca)

Andy Bramante with his 2008 class of CFS participants.

March12, 2008
Greenwich High student wins science competition

Eliza McNitt, a Greenwich High School junior, captured top honors at the 45th Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium for an original research project that traced the migration of pesticides through the production of southwestern Connecticut honey.

In addition to a $1,000 scholarship and letter of recognition from Gov. M. Jodi Rell, McNitt will represent Connecticut at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium at Orlando, FL, in May. The symposium program is sponsored by the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force in an effort to encourage original scientific research at the high school level. Courtney Fogwell, a GHS senior, was selected as a National Symposium alternate for her project analyzing the environmental impact of artificial-turf playing fields.

Eliza and Courtney were among 13 state finalists who made oral presentations before an audience of more than 300 fellow science students, parents, teachers, and jurors at the University of Connecticut in Storrs on March 10. Both students were mentored by GHS science teacher Andrew Bramante.

"While extensive work has been done on the presence of residual insecticides on fruits and vegetables, there has been little significant scientific research on residual pesticides in honey," Mr. Bramante said in a release. "Eliza came to me with her project on the first day of class. I almost fell off my stool when I heard it."

Eliza says that the topic was indirectly inspired by her grandfather, a chemical engineer, who is fastidious about washing and peeling fresh produce. "If there are insecticides on an apple," Eliza said. "It made me wonder if they could also be present in honey."

She found an ideal controlled research environment at the Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford, which maintains an apiary in the middle of its 30 acre property. James Kaechele, arboretum education director and beekeeping specialist Andrew Cote made honey samples available along with detailed records of pesticide applications.

Eliza tested the arboretum honey using advanced Spectroscopy and Chromatography technology that had been donated to the GHS science program. "I was incredibly fortunate to able to perform my own analysis," she says. "GHS has equipment that you can't even find in most colleges."

Her tests revealed the presence of a component of the pesticide Neem Oil — which is widely used in organic farming. Neem Oil is made from the fruits and seeds of Neem, an evergreen tree common in India, and is not thought to be harmful to mammals, birds or bees.

The fact that Eliza found no trace of another insecticide called Imidacloprid may have implications in the search for a cause of the mysterious syndrome known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in which worker bees abruptly disappear. CCD is considered a serious threat to the pollination of food crops in the United States and Europe.

"Imidacloprid is under investigation as a contributing factor in CCD," she said. "The fact that it is not present in the Arboretum honey could suggest that it is killing or disorienting worker bees so they cannot return to the hive."

The topic will be something she'll tackle in her next GHS science project.

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NOTE:

Shortly after this article was published, Eliza won Second Place at the Connecticut Science Fair, which qualified her to attend the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

Since missing two full weeks of school in the month before critical junior year final exams and SATs was deemed unwise, Eliza elected to only to attend ISEF.

However, as the article predicts, she did pursue the role of Imidacloprid in Colony Collapse Disorder for her 2009 science research project.

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2008 ISEF

The 2008 INTEL International Science Fair (ISEF) was attended by 1,500 finalists from 50 nations. Three Connecticut high school science students, including Eliza, were among the handful of Grand Award winners

Eliza approaching stage (left) and receiving INTEL Grand Award (below) at 2008 INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Atlanta
(photos by Frank LaBanca)

ISEF Finalists Eliza, Fionna Woods and Alexandra McIe touring Atlanta (photo: Frank LaBanca)

Impromptu rain gear for an unexpected rain storm Atlanta (photo: Frank LaBanca)

Judging Day: ISEF 2008, Atlanta: Theresa Oei, Fionna Wood, Dayton Horvath, Alexandra McIe and Eliza(photo: Frank LaBanca)

Three scenes from the 2008 ISEF Awards Ceremony (photo: Frank LaBanca)

2008 CSF Winners and ISEF Grand Award Winners Fionna Woods, Eliza and Theresa Oei
(photo: Frank LaBanca)

Eilza and Andy Bramante with Eliza’s “Pesticide” poster at the 2008 ISEF in Atlanta, (photo: Frank LaBanca)

Science Fair winners were honored at the 2008 Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame Induction

Studentcam Clipping FIle

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:22:24 -0400

GHS students win C-SPAN film contest

By Meredith Blake
Staff Writer
Posted: 03/10/2009 11:11:30 PM EDT

After weeks of collecting film clips of honey bee colonies and newsreels on rising food prices and then interviewing leading scientists in the field on colony collapse disorder, Greenwich High School seniors Eliza McNitt and Charles Greene felt ready to complete their documentary for C-SPAN.
Each year the news organization hosts a student documentary contest and this year the topic student films had to address was on the most pressing issue the new president must face.
McNitt and Greene, both 17, chose the problem of the disappearing colonies of honey bees throughout the country and its impact on the cost of food. C-SPAN announced Tuesday that "Requiem for the Honeybee" won first prize out of more than 1000 entries from middle and high school students throughout the country.
"It's certainly a great honor. I had a great time working on the project," Greene said.
The documentary topics ranged from the economy to local issues facing communities, according to Meredith Rapp, C-SPAN Education Program Specialist, who was also a judge.
Greene and McNitt's film stood out among them for its unique story, she said.
"It is wonderful -- a very sophisticated look at an interesting topic," she said, "It was very well-put together. All of us learned something."
Greene first learned about the contest from his film teacher at the high school in December. He approached McNitt, who was applying for film school, about working with him on
it. The project would not be a school project but an opportunity to produce a complete documentary, he said.

He had produced other documentaries in his television production class at the high school, and thought it would be fun, he said.

McNitt knew right away they should tackle the issue of colony collapse disorder, she said.
"I think he was a little surprised by my topic of choice, but once we talked more about it, it seemed perfect for the contest," she said.

McNitt had already researched the problem for a science project she completed in an honors class the year before. She showed how different pesticides affected the production of Connecticut honey.

"I was really passionate about the subject," she said.

Through her research, she learned that honey bees pollinate the food we eat, and as the numbers dwindle, partially due to pesticide use, farmers and food growers have to find more costly alternatives to fertilize crops, she said.

"I learned that without honey bees to pollinate all of the things we eat today, everything would be so expensive," she said.

Armed with this research, camera and lighting equipment from the school, the two filmmakers, who have known each other their entire lives, having been born on the same day in Greenwich Hospital, began approaching leading scientists and beekeepers on the subject. They connected with entomologist Diana Cox-Foster, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, who has done research on the subject, and David Hackenberg, a Pennsylvania beekeeper and president of the National Beekeepers Association. Both were passionate about the subject and spoke about its impact on the nation's food crop, she said. McNitt also flew to Florida over Christmas break, where she met with another beekeeper and took film of his colony of honey bees, she said.

"It was all very exciting to have it all come together," she said.

Once they had completed the filming, they had only a few weeks to complete it, Greene said. They spent more than 80 hours editing it and splicing in video clips from C-SPAN and You Tube, he said.

They also used footage of countries rioting over rising food costs-- a future that McNitt said could be a reality if this issue is not addressed.

"It's such an important issue," she said.

They submitted the 8-minute documentary on Jan. 20 and learned they had come in first prize last week. Greenwich High School Principal Alan Capasso pulled them out of English class to tell them the news, McNitt said.

As the winner of the first prize, they share $3,000.

Both McNitt and Greene are going to use their prize money towards next year's college tuition bill.

"I think it's a pretty good way to spend, investing it in my future making more films," she said.

They also won a $500 stipend that they will be giving to the media department at the high school to purchase more equipment, Greene said.

"The whole process was just an amazing experience," she said.

The film will air on C-SPAN on Sunday, April 26, at 6 p.m.

Click here for links to their film and the C-SPAN announcement on “Washington Journal.”

Thumbs up - Thumbs down
Greenwich Time Staff
Posted: 03/17/2009 07:58:11 AM EDT

Thumbs up to two Greenwich High School students who won first prize in a national filmmaking competition.

Greenwich High seniors Charles Greene and Eliza McNitt this month took top honors in C-SPAN's 2009 "StudentCam" video competition.

Students across the nation this year were challenged to produce a five-to-eight-minute documentary on the topic: "A message to the new president: What is the most urgent issue for the new president to address after taking office, and why?"

The pair won for their documentary about the food supply, "Requiem for the Honeybee," which can be viewed at http://studentcam.viddler.com/videos/watch.php?id=145305a5.

Studentcam Contest Winners Announced

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:33:13 -0400

Eliza & Charlie Win C-SPAN Film Contest
This morning, C-SPAN’s Meredith Rapp announced the top winners of the 2009 “Studentcam” Video Documentary contest on the network’s “Washington Journal” program.

First Place in the High School category went to Charlie Greene and Eliza McNitt for their short film on Colony Collapse Disorder called “Requiem for the Honeybee.”

See excerpts from the “Studentcam Competion” announcement on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” here.

Read local “Greenwich Time” coverage here.

See the complete documentary film here.

It was Charlie’s video-production instructor at Greenwich High School (GHS), Richard Detmer, who suggested entering the C-SPAN contest. The only problem, Charlie wasn’t sure what topic to use for a contest designed to create “A message to the new President. What is the most urgent issue to address after taking office, and why?”

“I asked Eliza in English Class what topic she thought was best,” he says. “She shouted back: ‘Colony Collapse Disorder.’”

Charlie knew Eliza had won the 2008 Connecticut Science Fair as well as a Grand Award at INTEL for her honeybee research. What he didn’t know was that as part of her NYU Film School application, Eliza had already prepared a film storyboard about how Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) imperils American agriculture and, ultimately, the global food supply. The storyboard opened with interviews of beekeeper David Hackenberg and entomologist Diana Cox-Foster.

Although Charlie and Eliza couldn’t begin filming until their college applications were wrapped up in December, they at least had a well-scripted roadmap ready to go.

The weekend before Christmas Break, I drove the kids to Central Pennsylvania where they videotaped interviews with Dr. Cox-Foster in her lab at Penn State–as well as David Hackenberg, the beekeeper who first reported CCD in November 2006. Hackenberg, in turn, connected them with Dave Mendes, a commercial beekeeper located near Fort Myers, Florida–an hour’s drive from Grandpa Jim’s house where Eliza has spent every Christmas since she was born on August 23, 1991.

As it happens, Charlie was born the same day–about an hour earlier in the same room of the same hospital. They were even delivered by the same obstetrician. Occasionally, their paths would cross, like when Eliza went to apply for a drivers license on her 16th birthday, and found Charlie in line ahead of her. Still, this was the first time they had worked together–and it proved to be an auspicious pairing of ability and temperament.

Charlie’s video production skills were the perfect complement to Eliza’s scientific expertise. And his calm disposition and keen sense of organization were an ideal counterpoint to Eliza’s immense, but sometimes chaotic, creative and improvisational gifts.

Over Christmas Break, while Eliza interviewed Dave Mendes and did macro footage of bees and beehives from inside a protective bee suit, Charlie edited the Pennsylvania interviews and tracked down video news clips on rising food prices and the food riots of April 2008 that threatened political stability in several Third World countries. Charlie was always one-step ahead when it came to anticipating what they needed and when they had to have it in order to meet their production deadlines.

During a week of 12-to-14-hour days in early January, the Charlie and Eliza wrote and narrated the “Requiem” script and condensed dozens of hours of interview footage, B-reel scenes (pun intended) and news broadcasts into an eight-minute documentary.

Along the way, they developed a narrative technique that on first viewing seems almost deceptively simple. But watch closely, and you will see how Charlie and Eliza employ a complex and creative interplay of overlapping video and audio edits to tell a compelling story from multiple viewpoints and perspectives.

Meredith Rapp told The Greenwich Time why Charlie and Eliza did so well in the Studentcam competition: "It [‘Requiem for the Honeybee’] is wonderful -- a very sophisticated look at an interesting topic... It was very well-put together. All of us learned something."

Colony Collapse Disorder was only recognized for the first time in the Fall of 2006. Although most people are vaguely aware that something is happening to the honeybees, few know the details–and fewer still understand the implications in terms of the potential impact on global food prices and food shortages. Simply put: they picked the right topic at the right time.

As for why it was so well put together, even before they began interviewing, I noticed that Charlie and Eliza had established that their overall theme would be the implications of CCD on global food supplies and political stability. This was surprising, since Eliza’s previous work had been with the scientific aspects of CCD, but the choice made good sense given C-SPAN’s mission to cover Washington, DC’s political decision-making. I can’t speak for Charlie, but clearly Eliza’s four years in Student Government and Theater Arts at GHS have taught her how to shape a message to reach a specific audience.

Before their first interview with Diana Cox-Foster, Charlie and Eliza established a core set of interview questions which they then used in all subsequent interviews. As a result, the kids were able to address their main topics through multiple voices expressing multiple points of view. Although they couldn’t travel to China’s Hunan Province to film what life would be like without honeybees, they did have their interviewees narrate the situation in Hunan while showing B-reel footage of hand pollination in Hunan that was provided by PBS.

Above all, I suspect the secret to their success, was simply hard work. In addition to the days spent researching, interviewing and shooting bee footage, Charlie and Eliza devoted at least 60 to 70 hours each to editing and re-editing the eight-minute video.

While it’s nice to think that students are motivated by the sheer joy of learning, in the case of the C-SPAN Studentcam Contest, there’s another factor that I recently realized should not be underestimated. And that’s the $3,000 cash prize!

Click on the image below to see “Requiem” at C-SPAN’s “Student cam” web site

Click on the image below to read one beekeepers reaction to “Requiem”